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Art Training School (National), SOUTH KENSINGTON.—Director for Art and Principal , Edward J. Poynter, R.A, The courses of instruction pursued in the school have for their object the systematic training of teachers, male and female, in the practice of art and in the knowledge of its scientific principles, with a view to qualifying them as teachers of schools of art competent to develop the application of art to the common uses of life, and to the requirements of trade and manufactures. The instruction comprehends the following subjects: freehand, architectural, and mechanical drawing; practical geometry and perspective; painting in oil, tempera, and water-colours; modelling, moulding, and casting. The classes for drawing, painting, and modelling include architectural and other ornament flowers objects of still-life, &c., the figure from the antique and the life, and the study of anatomy as applicable to art. These courses of instruction are open to the public on the payment of fees; the classes for male and female students meeting separately. The fees are as follows: Fees for classes studying five whole days, including evenings, £5 for five months, and an entrance fee of 10s. Evening classes : male school, £2 per session; female school, £1 per session, three evenings a week, Teachers in private schools or families may attend the day classes for not more than three months on payment of £1 per month, without payment of the entrance fee. An evening artisan class is held in the elementary room, fees 10s. per session, or 30s. per month. Students of this class may pass into the general class-rooms at the same fee when they have passed examinations in the four subjects of the and grade. No students can be admitted to these classes until they have passed an examination in freehand drawing of the and grade. Examinations of candidates for admission will be held weekly at the commencement of each session, and at frequent intervals throughout the year. These examinations are held at the school on Tuesdays at 10.30 a.m. and 6.45 p.m. The examination fee is 2s. 6d. for day students, and 6d. for evening students, to be paid at the time of examination. Candidates should bring their own lead pencils and india-rubber. Unsuccessful candidates cannot be re-examined until after a month’s interval. Candidates who have already passed examination in and grade freehand drawing are admitted, on application to the registrar, without further examination. The annual sessions, each lasting five months, commence on the 1st of March and the 1st of October, and end on the last day of July, and the last day of February respectively. Students who have passed the examination may join the school at any time, on payment of fees for not less than five months, but those who have already paid fees for five months may remain until the end of the scholastic year on payment of a proportional fee for each month unexpired up to the 31st July in each year. The months of August and September are not counted as part of the five months paid for. The months of August and September, one week at Christmas, and one week at Easter and Whitsuntide, are vacations. The school is open every day, except Saturday. Hours of study: day, 9 to 3.30; evening, 7 to 9. Evening classes for females on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. All day-students are expected to attend at 9 a.m., and to remain in the school until the -bell rings at 3.30 p.m., except during the half-hour for lunch from a to 1.30 p.m., or when permission has been specially obtained. Classes for schoolmasters, schoolmistresses, and pupil-teachers of public elementary schools, meet on two evenings in each week. Fee, 5s. for the session. Students properly qualified have full access to the collections of the museum and library, either for consultation or copying, as well as to all the school lectures of the department. A register of the students’ attendance is kept, and may be consulted by parents and guardians.
Further information may be obtained on personal application to the Registrar at the schools, or by letter addressed to the Secretary, Science and Art Department.
A course of twelve lectures on anatomy, as applicable to the arts, is given in each session. The spring course may be attended by ladies. Fee for the course, 6s, -For a single lecture, 1s. Other lectures will be delivered occasionally, and duly announced. The schools are open free for the inspection of the public every Saturday, from 2 till dusk. Entrance through the museum.
Metropolitan District Schools of Art are now established at the following places: The Female School of Art, 43, Queen-square, Bloomsbury; City and Spitalfields, New Bishopsgate Ward; St. Thomas Charterhouse, Goswell-road; St. Martin’s-in-the.fields, Castle-street, Long-acre; Lambeth, Miller’s-lane, Upper Kennington-lane; West London, 204, Great Portland-street; North London, Sandringham-road, Kingsland; Islington, 21, cross-street; Stratford, Maryland Point; Westminster, St. Mary’s, Hyde - place, Vincent-square ; Westminster, Royal Architectural Museum. These schools are open in the evening from 7 to 9, and there are female classes at most of them. Applications for admission, prospectuses, or any other information, should be made at the schools in each district. There is an annual examination for prizes in all the schools, and a national competition.
ART LIBRARY at South Kennsington is open during the same hours as the Museum. It contains about 45,000 volumes and pamphlets on all subjects bearing on art; a collection of about 17,000 drawings, designs, and illuminations; about 6o,ooo engravings, chiefly of ornament; and about 45,000 photographs of architecture, objects of art, original drawings, &c. All its contents are rendered, as far as possible, available to students of the schools of art and general readers.
THE MUSEUM lends books and objects to all schools of art.
The new buildings which came into use on the 5th October, 1863, are the first permanent buildings which have been provided for the National Art Training Schools. A distinct series of rooms has been provided for male and female students. In each series separate rooms are assigned to drawing, painting, and modelling, &c., and there is a lecture-room in common for the male and female classes. The entrances to the respective daises are in Exhibition-road.
The Collections comprise: Objects of Ornamental Art as applied to Manufactures; the National Art Library; British Pictures, Sculptures, and Engravings; the Educational Library and Collections, including appliances and models for scholastic education, scientific apparatus. &c,; Materials and Models for Building and Construction: Substances used for Food; Reproductions, means of Casting, Electrotype and Photography, of objects displaying the Art-Manufactures of all nations ; Naval Models, NEAREST Railway Station, South Kensington; Omnibus Routes Brornpton-road and Fulham-road; Cab Rank, Opposite.

Charles Dickens (Jr.), Dickens's Dictionary of London, 1879